Haywire
by brookyss36
Summary: When a simple mission goes terribly wrong, how will the team cope? Sure, they've been in tight spots before, but this new villain is posing more of a threat than usual and the situation seems to get more and more complicated. WHUMP! fic. Mostly Ethan. Rated T for now.
1. Haywire

Hi all! This is my first MI fanfic, so here goes! Will definitely involve lots of whump, mostly involving Ethan, but probably the rest of the gang too. Enjoy!

* * *

The mission was simple. Well, simple for this IMF team, anyways.

Ethan, Benji, and Brandt were on a plane to Russia. Their mission was to track down a notorious drug dealer, who'd gotten his hands into the world of nuclear explosives and was a little to ambitious for the IMF's liking. Their intel had told them that he had plans to start distributing the plutonium in one week and their mission was to stop him and find out who had supplied him the plutonium in the first place. But, the guy seemed like an amateur, albeit a dangerous one, but none of the trio was too worried.

Benji was typing on a computer, intently staring at the bright screen. Ethan glanced at him and then at Brandt who was sleeping soundly one row ahead.

He glanced down at his watch and frowned slightly.

"Benji," he whispered, not wanting to wake Brandt, "shouldn't we be there by now?"

Benji frowned looking at his own watch.

"Yeah, you're right." He glanced out the window at the land below and shrugged. "Shoulda been 15 minutes ago. Maybe there was a delay for some reason?"

Ethan felt his stomach stir. Something felt off.

He stood up, putting a hand on Benji's shoulder.

"I'll go check with the pilots."

Benji nodded, suddenly feeling a creeping concern too.

Ethan walked down the narrow airplane and knocked on the door to the cockpit, looking through the small window.

The co-pilot looked back at Ethan, a smile on his face. Ethan looked slightly to the left at the pilot and saw that he was slumped over. With wide eyes, Ethan saw a wetness on the carpet below. He frantically tried pulling the door open as the man stood up, standing face to face with only the window in between them.

"Ethan, what is it?"

He heard Benji approach and Brandt stirring, but all he could do was stare at the man. He'd never met him before but he couldn't help but feel he was someone very dangerous.

He was a taller man and very muscular. He was dressed cleanly, and looked like he'd more likely be seen working on wall street.

He smiled at Ethan before he grabbed what looked like a gas mask and slowly put in on. Ethan blinked, trying to comprehend what was happening as he watched the man move something in his hand. It looked like a button and Ethan knew exactly what it was for.

Ethan turned, panicked, towards Benji and Brandt.

"Oxygen masks! Now!"

They all scrambled for masks but Ethan knew it was too late. He could see the cabin filling up with some kind of gas and knew it was either going to kill them all or knock them out. He hoped it was the latter.

In a last feeble attempt to grab the mask, Ethan stumbled, feeling the plane's floor beneath his knees. He slowly raised his head up, watching as the man walked towards him, gas mask still on.

He looked up at the man, feeling a sudden surge of hatred towards him.

Then he felt a vicious punch to the face and everything went black.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I'll try to keep this updated as often as I can. :)


	2. Reunion

Hi all! Thanks so much for the reviews! Here's chapter two. I managed to get it written much faster than I thought. No promises that I'll keep this pace up, but I'll try! :)

It should also be noted that this is set after Rogue Nation, kind of an alternate take on Fallout.

Enjoy!

* * *

Benji's first thought when he woke up was that he probably should have stayed behind his computer and out of the field. But, he thought as he blinked at the dark ceiling looming above, it was no use thinking about that now.

He took a minute to gather his bearings, slowly pushing himself to his feet to look at his room. The room was dark, but there was a window opposite him with bright moonlight shining through. He walked towards it and glanced down at the hard wood floor beneath his feet. He gripped the iron bars that were mounted on the window giving them a shake just for good measure. All he could see out the window was more darkness, but he could faintly see the tops of an endless amount of trees. He looked further down and guessed that he was likely on the second floor of what seemed like an old mansion or large house. His curiousness increasing, he walked away from the window and towards a door that was opposite the window and about 10 paces away. The door had a small window in it, with bars and what looked like a mail slot near the bottom. It was locked, as he guessed it would be, but he noticed a light switch as he was about to walk away.

With bated breath, he flipped the switch and the room lit up instantly. He immediately noticed a small twin bed in the corner to his left with a small side table next to it and another door to his right. He approached the second door and discovered it was a very small bathroom with a toilet, sink, and small shower. Immediately, he set to inspecting the room. He quickly discovered that everything in the room was bolted down to the floor. He plopped down on the bed and frowned as he took in these new surroundings. Who would want to kidnap the three of them, only to put them in moderately decent rooms? Assuming that Ethan and Brandt were in the same situation. His stomach dropped with that thought now buzzing in his head. Where were his friends? And what did these people want?

As if on queue, he heard footsteps approaching from outside his door. He stood up nervously as the door swung open and the man he recognized from the plane walked in; he was oozing with confidence, or maybe arrogance was more accurate.

They stood for a split second before the man spoke.

"Benji Dunn. I'm John Lark."

Benji blanched.

"John Lark?"

He definitely knew the name, but never had a face to go with it. He was a notorious international terrorist, working behind the scenes to bring death and ruin to parts of the world, all in the name of world peace. He was a puppet master and was a very, very dangerous man.

Lark nodded, smiling slightly, ruffling through his pockets. Both hands emerged, one holding a gun and the other holding handcuffs.

"Sorry about this," he winced, as if genuinely sorry. "Just a precaution, you understand."

Benji gulped.

"If you could just take a seat on the bed there."

Benji obliged, sitting on the edge of the bed, trying his best to hide the fear that was quickly rising up inside him.

Lark handcuffed Benji's hands to the bed posts at the end of the bed, giving him enough room to stand, but not much else. Lark sat on a chair on the opposite side of the room, crossing his legs.

"So, Benji. I only have one question for you." He smiled and leaned forward and Benji got an immediate impression of a shark. "If you answer it, you can all go home, no one would need to know about this whole thing."

Lark paused, leaning forward even more and Benji nodded, mouth dry.

"Where is the plutonium?"

Confusion spread across Benji's face.

"Pl...plutonium? You think that we have plutonium?"

Lark sighed and sat back in his chair, his tone suddenly less cordial.

"Don't play dumb. I know you all were here to retrieve plutonium from my dealer. Next thing I know, the plutonium is gone and my dealer washes up on shore, dead. Don't try to tell me that you weren't part of that."

"We weren't." Benji blurted, suddenly feeling very panicked. "Look, we were flying _to_ Russia, not away, so how could we possibly have stolen it? And...you were on the plane, how'd you get on the plane?"

Lark's mustache twitched with irritation.

"I boarded the plane in France, when you stopped for fuel. I have intel that you backtracked from Russia to France..."

Benji started shaking his head.

"...and then were flying back to Russia to cover your tracks."

Benji kept shaking his head. "No, it's not true."

Lark clenched his jaw.

"Fine." He stood up. "You wanna play hard ball?"

Benji's breath caught in his throat as Lark stood up and walked towards the door pulling it open. Two men walked in with another man being dragged between them and Benji felt his stomach drop.

"Ethan." Benji whispered as they shoved Ethan to his knees onto the floor; his hands were tied behind his back and he was sporting a shiner and a bloody nose.

The two men walked outside, closing the door behind them.

"Benji..." Ethan started before Lark circled around, punching him hard across the face, sending him to the floor with a thud. Benji stood in protest, pulling against the handcuffs with no success.

Lark turned to Benji, slicking back his hair with one hand, shrugging, while Ethan squirmed on the floor below.

"Come on, Benji. Just one little answer. None of this has to happen."

Benji stuttered, unsure what to say. He'd already told him the truth; how could he convince him?

"I...I told you. We never had the plutonium. If it disappeared, someone else was involved."

Lark smirked, sending a maniacal flurry of kicks to Ethan's exposed stomach; he groaned and rolled onto his back. Lark continued his assault of punches and kicks until Ethan's groans turned into muffled screams.

"Stop...please." Benji pleaded, still pulling against his bonds.

Lark bend down, grabbing Ethan by his shirt collar and lifted him easily into the chair, so his arms were behind it.

Benji collapsed on the bed, suddenly feeling a wave of helplessness as he looked at his friends' face, bloody and bruised. He watched him breathing, Benji could tell he probably had a couple injured ribs. Their eyes met for a moment and Benji saw something he'd never seen on Ethan's face: fear.

In a flash, the fear was gone, replaced with a steely resolve instead.

"Why don't you let my friends go. I'm the only one you need."

Lark snickered.

"C'mon, Ethan, how stupid do you think I am?"

Ethan paused.

"I think you know we didn't steal the plutonium. I think you know that, but you've arranged this whole thing to make your employer think you have the situation under control until you find the real thief." Ethan barked out a laugh. "Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the thief works for you."

Benji and Ethan could both tell he'd struck a nerve by the way Lark froze, his face unreadable until it slowly started showing anger. He slowly reached into his pocket, pulling out a device that, to Ethan's disappointment, looked very much like a taser.

Lark approached Ethan with a savage intent. He tore his button down shirt open and thrust the device into his bare stomach.

It took only a split second for Ethan to feel the pain and it was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. It felt like he was getting electrocuted and stabbed at the same time. He squirmed uselessly in the chair, trying his best to hold down the screams. Lark pulled the device away and Ethan let out the breath he was holding, panting heavily. He could hear Benji yelling, protesting behind Lark, who was now smiling, but he was trying to block him out. It only made it worse knowing his friend was witnessing this.

Ethan knew he was right about Lark, but it really didn't matter. The information held no power currently, other than making Lark more angry than he already was. It might come in handy later, but that was assuming that they all survived.

Lark repositioned the device in his hands and Ethan braced himself. The impact came and somehow it seemed even worse. Ethan couldn't resist anymore. He screamed, still trying to suppress the excruciating pain flowing through his body. Again and again, Lark pushed the device against Ethan's torso until his screams turned into whimpers and he was left sagging against his restraints.

Benji watched the whole time, realizing immediately that he was in shock. They'd been through a lot together, he and Ethan, but this was a whole new level for the both of them. Watching his friend getting tortured was not something that Benji realistically thought he'd ever experience.

The sound of the door opening brought Benji back to reality and he watched as a beautiful brown haired woman walked through the door. He did a double take and his breath caught in his throat when he saw the woman.

Ilsa Faust.

They locked eyes for a split second and Benji saw recognition and a flash of fear on her face. No, not fear: guilt.

She whispered something to Lark and he smiled, pocketing the device and pulling Ilsa into an embrace; kissing her.

With a smile, Lark exited the room, closing the door behind him.

Ethan looked up through bleary eyes at the woman now standing in front of him.

"Ilsa..."

She knelt down, cupping his face in her hands.

"We don't have much time to talk. I was able to trip the security cameras, but only for a few minutes."

Benji felt a wave of anger.

"Well, Ethan's not in much shape to chat right now, thanks to your boyfriend."

Ilsa looked back at him; she looked hurt by the words but Benji didn't care.

"I'm...sorry." She looked back at Ethan. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way. When I found out he kidnapped the two of you..."

"Sorry," Benji interrupted, "the two of us? There were three on the plane."

Ilsa clenched her jaw, standing and staring at the floor.

"I know. Lark didn't think he'd be important so he...pushed him out of the plane."

Benji closed his eyes, not wanting to believe it.

Ethan spoke up, unable to hide the pain, both physical and emotional, from his voice.

"Brandt is dead?"

Ilsa fidgeted.

"I don't know for sure. But, I think so. Ethan." She rushed forward, running her hand through his hair. "I'm _so_ sorry."

A moment passed between them.

"You stole it. Didn't you?"

Benji opened his eyes, wiping the wetness from his face.

Ilsa paused, but Ethan could see the answer in her eyes.

"You stole it. You were making your escape until you heard that Lark kidnapped us. So you came back. Why?"

"You know why."

Ethan paused.

"Who are you working for?"

Ilsa didn't respond. Ethan knew she couldn't.

"MI6?"

He could read her like an open book. Well, only when she wanted him to."

"And Lark. Who's he working for?"

Ilsa clenched her jaw.

"Lane."

Benji stirred.

"But, Lane's in prison, how..."

Ilsa turned back towards Benji. "A lot can get accomplished in prison. And he's not going to be happy when he finds out someone stole his plutonium right from under Lark's nose."

" _Someone."_ Ethan tried to smile but it turned into a grimace.

Ilsa stood, smiling slightly, but Ethan could see the pain on her face.

"There's no more time. I'll try to figure out a plan but in the meantime...don't die."

Her eyes were locked on Ethan's.

Benji spoke up. "Ah, yes, thanks for the encouraging words. I will also try not to die. Thanks for your concern by the way."

Ilsa flashed him a look before rushing out of the room, closing the door silently behind her.

As soon as Ilsa left, Benji could see Ethan slump over a little more, no longer needing to maintain an illusion of toughness, he supposed.

"Ethan...what do we do?"

Ethan sighed, cringing from the pain in his ribs.

"Just like Ilsa said. We try not to die."

Benji clenched his jaws and nodded.

Wasn't that a cheerful thought.


End file.
